THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE

This world premiere production of a new translation by A.C.T. Associate Artist Domenique Lozano marks the return of modern theater master Brecht's work to A.C.T. after the successes of The Threepenny Opera in 1999 and Happy End in 2006. The play follows the story of a servant girl who saves the life of an abandoned baby boy in wartime. When the wealthy mother returns to claim him, however, their fates lie in the hands of a wily, unpredictable judge whose concern for the poor is rivaled only by his concern for saving his own hide. Featuring Doyle's signature theatricality, A.C.T.'s Caucasian Chalk Circle soars with humor, romance, and unexpected plot twists.
The production features a new score by acclaimed San Francisco composer Nathaniel Stookey (The Composer Is Dead and upcoming Junkestra with the San Francisco Symphony). As with Stookey's earlier work, the score incorporates objects scavenged from the San Francisco Dump alongside more conventional instruments and voices. And as in Doyle's extraordinary rethinking of Sweeney Todd, the entire score is performed by the cast. The Caucasian Chalk Circle plays February 18-March 14, 2010, at the American Conservatory Theater. Opening night is Wednesday, February 24, 2010, at 8 p.m.
Lozano, whose work at A.C.T. includes directing A Christmas Carol for the last four seasons and numerous productions for the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program, where she also teaches, has received special permission from the Brecht estate to create this new translation. She speaks to the challenge of setting Brecht's language to English.
Stookey, a San Francisco composer who has received considerable national attention, is composing the score for this production. Stookey speaks to working with Doyle on this collaboration: "John Doyle is often described as ‘an actor's director,' but he also made lots of friends in the music world with his extraordinary rethinking of Sweeney Todd. That's because of the way the music was incorporated into the fabric of the drama, something you just can't do with a pit orchestra. I had never expected to write music for theater, but I would follow John anywhere!"
The production stays true to Brecht's style, doing away with theatrical artifice and inviting the audience to become active participants in the telling of the story. Doyle sets his production in an abandoned, dilapidated theater in a war-torn environment. The nine performers, all playing multiple roles, transform the space, finding costumes, script pages, and objects to create the play. The visual look of the piece is inspired by a series of photos from wars of the last century, with the costumes evoking a wide variety of time periods and locales, from the Spanish Civil War to the Vietnam War to the war in Iraq. In this eclectic atmosphere, the nine performers will have a life and story unto themselves, along with the characters they play in service of the story.